US-Mexico border in San Diego. (Creative Commons, Bruno Sanchez-Andrade Nuño)
Last Friday, June 20 marked yet another World Refugee Day, a day meant to draw our attention to the growing number of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced individuals and families. This year the numbers have gone up from 45.2 million at the end of 2012, to 51.2 million at the end of 2013.
Last year’s World Refugee Day was just days after the G8 Summit, where global giants focused primarily on the crisis in Syria and how to address the growing tensions between Syrian rebels and the Assad regime. The refugee crisis in Syria has only grown in the last year, with roughly 1.5 million who had fled the country at this time last year and a striking increase by the end of last year, which created 2.5 million more refugees and 6.5 million displaced within the country.
The crisis of displaced persons is, however, not specific to Syria and we must also consider an issue closer to home. Since October 2013, nearly 47,000 unaccompanied children have crossed the US-Mexico border, reports The Nation, with nearly 21,000 from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, and over 17,000 from Mexico.
With the number of unaccompanied children crossing the border expected to reach nearly130,000 next year, it’s time we think about what World Refugee Day really means—finding a solution to this humanitarian crisis.
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